The moment the report from Dr. Clef arrived on my desk, I knew it was time.
A year of data.A year of surveillance.A year of quietly conquering governments, militaries, and infrastructures in a universe that never saw us coming.
But the mutants…The mutants were the real obstacle.
Clef's formal phrasing didn't hide his concern:
"O5‑1, the cave world is a parallel X‑Men universe. Mutant population levels are high. Power variety is extreme. Threat classification ranges from biological hazard to potential planetary extinction events."
In short:
Too dangerous to ignore.Too valuable to avoid.
So I stepped through The Cave myself.
It felt like walking through a sheet of vibrating fog—one foot on Earth, the next in a universe where humanity had evolved an entirely different set of rules.
And we had already taken over most of it.
The governments?Ours.
The military?Ours.
The media?Ours.
But the mutants…They were still fighting.
And they were the last things standing between the Foundation and total dominion of this parallel Earth.
Our New York Base – War Room
Inside the sleek obsidian walls of our Site‑X‑17 command center in New York, the mood was tense. A holographic map hovered over the table—a constantly shifting display of known mutant signatures, safehouses, possible Brotherhood cells, and Xavier's last confirmed location.
Dr. Bright lounged in a chair with his feet on the table, spinning a stolen Brotherhood helmet like a toy.Dr. Clef sat across from him, cigarette in hand, looking like he hadn't slept since 1973.Dozens of high‑ranking personnel filled the seats around us, each wearing Foundation combat gear modified with Rick-tech and Infinity Stone shielding.
I took my seat at the head.
"Status report," I said.
Dr. Clef tapped the map.A cluster of red points blinked across the hologram.
"We've captured or neutralized 92% of mutants on the planet. The remaining eight percent belong to two groups: Magneto's Brotherhood and Xavier's X‑Men."
Bright chimed in, grinning like a child at Christmas.
"And both are pissed. Very pissed. Magneto's declared open war. Xavier's gone quiet and is planning something big."
Clef leaned forward.
"Mutants are unpredictable. They have every conceivable power type: physical, psychic, elemental, conceptual. If we're not smart, we risk a catastrophic counterattack. But if we succeed…" His eyes flicked to me. "We'll gain more genetic and metaphysical data than any universe has ever seen."
Exactly.
If we captured them alive and intact, we could:
map the X‑Gene
replicate mutation triggers
awaken dormant genes in Foundation personnel
create artificially enhanced operatives
build anti-mutant countermeasures
and potentially weaponize or stabilize omega-level abilities
The possibilities were endless.
And dangerous.
But this was the Foundation. Dangerous possibilities were our specialty.
The Last Two Factions
Clef brought up two profiles.
Erik Lehnsherr – Magneto.Omega‑level.Master of magnetism.Global threat potential: Extinction Event.
Charles Xavier – Professor X.Omega-level telepath.Global threat potential: Existence rewrite.
Bright whistled low."Two old men, each with one button that could kill the world. Fun."
"Where are they now?" I asked.
Clef pressed another command.A new map appeared.
Magneto – a mobile Brotherhood base orbiting over Washington D.C., built from stolen metal and fallen satellites.Xavier – deep underground, beneath the ruins of the original Xavier Institute.
"So," I said, "we take both simultaneously."
Bright grinned wider."Now we're speaking my language."
Clef nodded grimly."We'll need kill squads, negation tech, anti‑metal fields, telepathic shielding, and extraction units. But it's doable."He looked directly at me."You want them alive, right?"
"Alive," I said. "We need their genetics and their minds."
Bright raised a hand. "Preferably with limbs still attached?"
"If possible," I replied. "But if not, they can grow new ones."
The Meeting's Conclusion
We finalized the plan:
Strike Team A – led by Clef, capturing Magneto.
Strike Team B – led by Bright, capturing the X‑Men.
Command Oversight – me.
Both missions would launch at once.Both would be overwhelming force operations.Both would use Foundation, Infinity Stone, and Rick‑tech combined.
This world had no idea what was about to hit it.
Clef stood, flicking his cigarette aside.
"Once we take these two old men down," he said, "this world is ours."
I rose from my seat.
"No," I corrected."This world is ours already."
A silent pause filled the room.
"We're simply cleaning up the last obstacles."
And with that, the war against the last mutants began.